It was an eventful, dramatic and entertaining night, capped off by the home team walking off the win in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Right-fielder Ethan Murdoch (pictured) belted Nathan Pisio’s one strike pitch off the centre-field fence, driving in Cooper Wesslund from first base to give the Saskatoon Berries, now 28-4 for the season, a 4-3 victory over the Moose Jaw Miller-Express, now 13-20, Monday night. For the third time in four games at Cairns Field, the Berries had to bat in the bottom of the ninth inning, walking it off in the frame for the first time. For the third time in the last six games, Saskatoon had to rally late in the game to beat Moose Jaw. The Miller-Express jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third inning, but the Berries pecked away with single runs in the fifth, sixth and eighth frames, the latter run being a Cory Wouters solo home run, before Swift Current product Murdoch came through in the ninth. That was the drama and entertainment, but the crowd of 1,447 at Cairns Field also saw home plate umpire Bobby Mark eject a coach from each side in the late innings for questioning his strike zone calls – first Saskatoon head coach Joe Carnahan, then Moose Jaw pitching coach Dustin Molleken. Aside from the one three-run inning for the Miller-Express, the Berries received stellar pitching in the other eight innings with starter Diego Quinonez, Matthias Trondson and Tanner Hosick allowing just three hits in those eight frames as the Berries won for the fifth time without losing head-to-head to Moose Jaw this season. The same teams play Tuesday night at Cairns Field at 7 o’clock. Following are Les Lazaruk’s post-game interviews with Carnahan, Murdoch and Trondson plus the official box score courtesy the W-C-B-L website…..
Game Date: 07/07/2025
Moose Jaw Miller Express 3 AT Saskatoon Berries 4
YTD YTD
Moose Jaw AB R H BI AVG Saskatoon AB R H BI AVG
Soto, T SS 3 1 1 1 .301 Menard, E 1B 5 0 2 0 .429
Edwards, W DH 3 0 0 0 .361 Houston, N SS 4 0 0 0 .348
Gurney, A RF 4 0 1 1 .398 Medina, A 2B 5 0 2 1 .374
Saenz, E 3B 4 0 1 0 .248 Roell, M 3B 3 0 0 0 .319
DeGrazia, T LF 4 0 0 0 .272 Wesslund, C PR 0 1 0 0 .303
Soto, G C 4 0 0 0 .259 Murdoch, E RF 5 0 2 0 .291
Yeager, J 1B 4 0 1 0 .236 Beck, C CF 3 1 1 0 .326
Phillips, P CF 4 1 1 0 .333 Wouters, C DH 4 1 3 1 .337
Waliczek, B 2B 3 1 2 0 .319 Sorensen, B C 4 1 1 0 .283
Prieto, N PR 0 0 0 0 .226
Gonzalez, R C 0 0 0 0 .000
Freeman, J LF 4 0 1 1 .301
33 3 7 2 37 4 12 3
Moose Jaw 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 7 2
Saskatoon 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 - 4 12 0
2B--Gurney, A RF (11), Murdoch, E RF (6), Beck, C CF (6), Sorensen, B C
(12). HR--Wouters, C DH (6). RBI--Soto, T SS (17), Gurney, A RF (40),
TOTALS 2 (0), Medina, A 2B (22), Wouters, C DH (22), Freeman, J LF (17),
TOTALS 3 (0). HP--Beck, C CF (2). SH--Edwards, W DH (0). SB--Houston, N SS
(10). CS--Menard, E 1B (2). E--Soto, T SS (7), Saenz, E 3B (6).
LOB--Moose Jaw 5, Saskatoon 13.
YTD
IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Moose Jaw
Zarate, A 4.2 5 1 0 0 0 0 5.84
Ahlberg, A 2.1 5 2 2 1 3 1 6.14
Pisio, N (L,3-2) 1.0 2 1 1 2 1 0 2.12
8 12 4 3 3 4 1
Saskatoon
Quinonez, D 5.0 5 3 3 1 4 0 3.21
Trondson, M 2.0 2 0 0 0 5 0 5.54
Hosick, T (W,2-1) 2.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.84
9 7 3 3 1 10 0
PB--Sorensen, B 3. HB--Ahlberg, A (3). SO--Soto, T, Edwards, W, Saenz, E 2,
DeGrazia, T 2, Soto, G, Yeager, J, Phillips, P 2, Menard, E, Roell, M,
Murdoch, E, Sorensen, B. BB--Soto, T, Houston, N, Roell, M 2. BF--Zarate, A
20 (61), Ahlberg, A 14 (40), Pisio, N 7 (66), Quinonez, D 21 (119),
Trondson, M 8 (61), Hosick, T 6 (61). P-S--Zarate, A 75-45, Ahlberg, A
56-35, Pisio, N 26-14, Quinonez, D 85-59, Trondson, M 31-22, Hosick, T
24-18.
T--2:58. A--1447
Weather: 22C; mostly sunny
Plate Umpire - Bobby Mark, Field Umpire #1 - Mark Clarke, Field Umpire #2 - Aaron Roberts
